By Jason Stearns<\/p>\n
Since the M23 rebellion re-emerged in November 2021, there has been a lot of noise\u2013\u2013to call it a discussion would be to exaggerate its nuance and sophistication \u2013\u2013about discrimination against Congolese Tutsi and its role in the violence. At the heart of this debate are issues critical for Congolese democracy and stability.<\/strong><\/p>\n On the one hand, there are those who argue that the crisis was caused by discrimination against Congolese Tutsi. This was the argument\u00a0made<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0by researcher Felix Ndahinda, writing for the Clingendael Institute and the\u00a0Journal for Genocide Research,<\/em>\u00a0arguing that hate speech amplified by social media was a \u201ckey driver<\/em>\u201d in the current crisis, and that protesters were allegedly killing and even cannibalizing Tutsi. Similarly, on October 26, 2022 the Rwandan deputy permanent representative to the United Nations\u00a0chastised<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0the Security Council for not focusing on the\u00a0\u201croot causes\u201d<\/em>\u00a0of the conflict there, citing in particular xenophobia and the longstanding presence of the Forces d\u00e9mocratiques pour la lib\u00e9ration du Rwanda (FDLR) in the eastern Congo The\u00a0New Times<\/em>, the Rwandan government\u2019s newspaper of record, has had over a dozen articles over the past year calling out the hate speech and discrimination against Congolese Tutsi, and has featured warnings of genocide issued by the M23. President Kagame, in his New Year\u2019s message\u2013\u2013which focused almost entirely on the Congo\u2013\u2013spoke<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in similar terms:<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason this [conflict] prevails is because<\/em>\u00a0[conflit]\u00a0DRC is unwilling or unable to govern its territory. Should Rwanda be the one to bear the dysfunction of this immense country? The situation of the Congolese refugees, whose very right to nationality is denied by their home country, is a case in point. It is not just a question of<\/em>\u2018hate speech\u2019,\u00a0but of active persecution, over decades<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n On the other side, many Congolese officials have rejected allegations of discrimination. President Tshisekedi has\u00a0fulminated<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0that \u201cthe enemy has always played on the victim to make a business out of it<\/em>,\u201d and has met with Congolese Tutsi and Hutu communities to\u00a0reassure<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0them that the government will protect their rights The spokesperson of the government\u00a0said<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0recently that accusations of hate speech are a \u201cfiction<\/em>: \u201cThey cannot come and invent discourses of<\/em>\u00a0\u2018genocide\u2019\u00a0when we have nothing that confirms such a context.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n What is the truth of the matter? There are two misconceptions that I will address here, often mentioned by either side of this debate.<\/p>\n